“P.P.: Mrs. Aadi”

L-R: photo frame of my father at 20; My mother; My aunt. Pic taken at Calcutta.

Mommy with our eldest paternal aunt... A little frail now, but 'addi' is still just as passionate for the well-being of her kids (including us).

My mother would get me to book these calls for her sister-in-law to Bareilly and would refuse to take her name! I knew ‘Bhaagwanti Devi’, but since the call was from mommy... she insisted I give, ‘addi’ (Sindhi for elder sister) as p.p. or “particular person’ for whom the operator would wait before charging and transferring the call. I presumed, it would be difficult to explain the concept and the Bengali lady would anyways be more comfortable with saying ‘Aadi’, so I devised, “Mrs. Aadi”. And the best part is that without any prior consultation, folks in Bareilly understood that this call from Calcutta was for my aunt from her younger brother’s wife! :D The mechanism took off and continued until the end of trunk call days in metros... Now she has her mobile phoneJ

L-R: Mommy, Addi and I behind Vivek at Haridwar.

Here are Mommy, Addi and me standing behind Vivek getting ‘yagyopaveet sanskaar’ done, along with 3 strangers. Yes, it happened pretty late for him in 2002, but it was a big deal for us to do it the right way, in Haridwaar at the family’s ‘Sai jan’s place (where all our records are maintained!) and without celebration as that is the (‘reet’) tradition in our family. But my mom really wanted addi and her courage beside her, so, even though married daughters of the family are not invited, it was pre-planned that addi should just come for vacation to Lucknow around the time we were to go for this, so then she can just come along!

Prepared for this major event, ever since Vivek’s birth, we learned yet again that there are rites and loopholes and it is ok to allow them in order to fulfill tasks that involve beliefs that are important to people. It felt nice to finally get it done for mommy and the trip was overall great.

Oh, and when Vivek was coming from his bath after fully shaving his head in enthusiasm, wrapped only in ‘gamchha’, just before the ‘janeyu’ rites, a man entering the ‘Sai jan’s place touched Vivek’s feet, assuming him to be a ‘panDa’; Vivek in turn, automatically blessed him also :D